Foster sister details 5-year-old's death

Sister: 'Cody had beaten Dominic with brick, killed him'

KETV NewsWatch 7 is learning more about the events leading up to the death of a 5-year-old boy whose body was found in a western Iowa ravine over the weekend.

Authorities said 17-year-old Cody Metzker-Madsen and Dominic Elkins had been living together in the same foster home since early August. On Saturday, Dominic's body was found in a ravine in rural Harrison County.

Metzker-Madsen has been charged with first-degree murder in the death.

In a statement to the Harrison County Sheriff's Office, the boys' 12-year-old foster sister said her parents, Julie and Don Coolman, as well as her sister and brother, were gone at the time of the incident.

The sister said Metzker-Madsen and Dominic were playing outside while she was watching TV.

"Cody came inside. He had dirt and mud all over him and a little blood on his forehead," she said.

She said Metzker-Madsen claimed Dominic thought he wasn't playing fairly.

"So, Dominic hit himself in the head, hit Cody in the head with a brick and ran to the ravine," she said Metzker-Madsen claimed.

After calling her mom to tell her to come home, the sister said, Metzker-Madsen led them to Dominic's body in the ravine. She said he was facedown in the water and that his face was covered in gashes and bruises.

"His lips were blue, and his upper lip had a gash in it," she said.

The sister said she tried to give Dominic CPR, but her grandfather came over and told her there was nothing she could do.

"Cody had beaten Dominic with a brick and killed him," she said.

Metzker-Madsen remains at the Harrison County Law Enforcement Center on a $500,000 bond. Now removed from foster care, his legal guardian is the Iowa Department of Human Services.

If convicted, he could spend life in prison without possibility of parole.

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